Book Review: A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll

What species of Shark is the whale species of Dolphins?

A KIND OF SPARK tells the story of 11-year-old Addie as she campaigns for a memorial in memory of the witch trials that took place in her Scottish hometown. Addie knows there's more to the story of these 'witches', just like there is more to hers. Can Addie challenge how the people in her town see her, and her autism, and make her voice heard?

I found out about this book on Twitter by following a fellow Autistic book reviewer who had been sent a review copy. So I immediately ordered it once I found out it was Autistic own voices. Frankly, there are not enough own-voices Autistic books, especially as the biggest ones were written chapter by chapter or the idea of an Autistic protagonist is how the author realised she was autistic when she did more research for the book. This is a middle-grade book which I didn't know because I did no research. I actually didn't read the summary of this book, I knew masking was discussed but that was it. I figured it was children's somehow by the cover.

The main character Addie is Autistic and eleven-years-old. This book deals with Ableism that that Autistic kids face, often by the adults who are meant to support them the most. Teachers.  I wasn't diagnosed with Autism as a child but I did face ableism from my Dyslexia diagnosis and my Autistic traits made it so that teachers were terrible to me.

This book is a lot more sympathetic than I would ever be to those teachers (ableist teachers in my novels end up being possessed by demons and its hard to tell when the procession started).

This book does slightly deal with internal ableist, with Keedie, Addie's older sister. It's not in great detail but as this book deals with a lot of Ableism that Autistic people deal with, I think it was just the right touch with this book. Especially, as this Addie's story. I do want Keedie's story, but mostly because I just want more Autistic protagonists in general. I did relate to Keedie too, being an older sibling to a fellow Autistic person. I went through a ton of Ableism and then my sibling went to the same school. Somehow it's gotten worse.

There's a lot of little nods in the books to how Autism has been a thing all along and not just recognised till recently. Also multiple Autistic femme characters.

The plot of this book is Addie learning about Scotland's Witch Trials and how her home village inspires her to do something about it. This went really well with the themes of the book, while

Friendship is a touch on a lot in this book. At the start of the book, Addie is newly Friendless as she has been abandoned by her long time friend Jenna and gains a new friend Audrey whose just moved to the school from London. Friendships are complicated for Autistic people due to us missing out on social clues and not knowing the rules to the game.

This a kinda spoiler but not majorly since this isn't a plot book. It's definitely about the characters.  This book has a trope I really don't like and it's kinda Ableist if not treated right and I don't think this book does enough. I get the reasoning, however, I don't think it was dealt with enough. I talked about it in my Goodreads initials thoughts if you don't care about mild thoughts.

Addie is very relatable to me, I've done a few things she did at the same age.
The only unrelatable thing for me, is Addie doesn't know what is dangerous about the world and my special interest has been true crime a few times, even as a kid. Obviously, not actual criticism.

I really loved this book, I do take issue with one part of this book, which is why I probably rate this 4.5 really. Maybe 4.8 if we're going against the GoodReads system anyway. I think this is a really important book for anyone to read but especially for Autistic kids. This is a book I had wished I had as a kid (even if I don't think I would have looked past a certain trope then). Even if you're not diagnosed, your traits still get you treated badly. In a way. this was a hard book to review because I mostly want to just scream read it and then come discuss it with me.  I think this book proves just why Disabled Own-voices are important.

Read: 11/6/2020
Reviewed: 11/6/2020 –4/7/2020
Medium: Paperback
Published Date: 04/6/2020
Publisher: Knights Of
Source: I brought it.
TW: Ableism, Ableist slurs; Internal Ableism; discussion of being institutionalised, casual racism (challenged), mild discussion of torture;

Crossposted to my other website: strangenessbooks.wordpress.com/

Book Review: The Whispering Skull by Jonathan Stroud

"Problem is: you're stupid, Lucy." I can't help but agree.


Ghosts and Ghouls beware!
The Smallest, shabbiest, most talented
phychic detection agency is back. 

There are strange things happening at one of  London's biggest cemeteries. A sinister coffin has been opened and a terrible phantom set free. 

When Lockwood & Co. investigate, they discover a dangerous relic has been stolen - and it's a race against time before its full power is unleashed...

This is the second book in the Lockwood & Co series and takes place seven months after the first, which I was surprised by considering they is a limited time where they will be able to fight ghosts.

Okay, Lucy becomes real unlikable right at the start of the book with the amount of girl hate she has, this was in the first book, but it's worst in this one: on page 20 she says this about a "She was Blonde, slim and pouty, which would have given me three reasons to dislike her even if she'd been a sweet lass who spent her free time tending poorly hedgehogs." So Lucy doesn't like stereotypical good looking girls, though "She was good-looking, though her jaw was a bit too sharp. If she’d repeatedly fallen over while crossing soft ground, you could have sewn a crop of beans in the chin-holes she left behind." Now this isn't the only description that Lucy gives about someone of her gender: "I also noted a posse of teenage girls, whose shapeless floaty dresses, black eyeliner, outsize bangles and lank armpit-length hair marked them out as Sensitives, Sensitives do psychic work, but refuse to ever actually fight ghosts for pacifist principle. They generally as dippy as summer cold and as irritating as nettle rash. We don't normally get on."

I have issues with the idea of the Sensitives as well, but this tops it off for me: "You miss'- he turned to the Senstive - 'you've clearly had a terrible experience. Are you able to tell me about it?'
This was classic Lockwood. Friendly, considerate, empathetic. My personal impulse would have been to slap the girl soundly around the face and boot her moaning backside out into the night. Which is why he's the leader, and I'm not. Also why I have no female friends". So you're saying all girls are like this. Is Lucy not a girl? I'm mean she could be Trans Boy and not realised, but I don't think that where this series is going. Still hella sexist either way.

You can be a tom-boy without hating on other girls. The thing is Stroud is not a woman, therefore it's not him accidentality giving a character the same trait he has, I guess he could hate stereotypical pretty feminine girls, which if so he should work on that. This is him choosing for Lucy to be against her own gender. This is kinda Society is bullshit where girls are encouraged abandoned feminine quality to fit in with boys, instead of just liking what you like. Everyone is socialised to dislike stereotypical feminine qualities, it's bullshit but it's also hella damaging because it's leads to people denying who they are. So not great for children to be reading.

Also this book is aimed at children, where they not at a stage necessary to question Society's bullshit and I think Lucy is meant to be relatable with this trait, instead of it being a major character flaw. This is the second book and it's only reinforced instead of questioned. Also they no other girl character to really go against this trait. There is no Buffy or Phryne Fisher. You can be a girly girl, nice and a bad arse. There are other female characters introduced, one is her own issue and the other is an adult that's being set up for future books. The main thing is it's not fun to read about a character who hates her own gender. Sexism isn't fun.

While on the Sexist aspect of the book, The Senstives are only presented as girls, and never mentioned again in the book that introduces the idea of them. Literally, just there for Lucy to hate on. The idea that makes them bad as idea is that they don't fight ghost but still help with the destroying of the sources and if they were pacifist they probably see this as helping to kill ghosts. Maybe they see it as them just warning living people of danger, for money. But they presented as girls that don't want to fight. If there was boy Senstives that were introduced with them, then this wouldn't be as much of a problem or even if at any time was spent with them besides this one conversation then we could have something. I guess they could appear in future books but introductions are everything. The idea of Senstives could be interesting, because the lack of information on ghosts and pre-problem ideas would suggest that not all ghosts are bad. Just some ghost want to attack you because they are dicks. Though, all ghosts can kill you in this world so it still seems kinda dumb. We're see.

I really don't like Lucy now. I know she's in her early teens so a dick as a rule, but she especially one with her girl hate and general attitude. The other characters are the same as the first book, there's more of an effect to explore how they work as term now that they've been together for a year. It works well for the plot. Except even I still don't like Cubbins, even with my dislike for Lucy and Lockwood feels like a plot point more than a person. I guess I wouldn't recommend this series for the characters.

This book is more quicker to start going somewhere than the first, which is good, a mystery with a deadline and a race aspect, though didn't have a lot of tension for me. Perhaps if I was more invested in Lockwood & Co. except they are the underdog.I figure out the mystery aspect half way through, but it not stupidly obvious. Still more complicated than some of the adult thrillers I've read. It also has dark magic and cults, digging up bodies in a graveyard so it's good.

I still like this world and want to know what's going on, outweighing the characters. The ghosts are interesting, with horrifying descriptions without just being gore galore with no rhythm or reason. This book felt more now, with alternative tech due to what went down. I'm waiting to know what happened to founding members of the agency because it's only been 50 years and they lived to have children so.. but I guess they're dead.

Overall, I give this book 3/5 stars for Smart Skulls. I like the world and the story, the characters are lacking. The thing is this is a kids books and I would hesitate to give this to a child, I would have to give them a lecture about how feminine quality are not bad and that girls that say they have no girl friends tend to be the issue and not the other girls. Girls are cool. These books are clearly aimed at boys, going off the covers, so I was down for tricking them into reading a book with bad arse female protagonist as the narrator, except she not a bad arse, she's a sexist loser. Thanks, Stroud. It's just really disappointing. I will be reading the sequel, hopefully, we'll get some character growth so Lucy stops being such a loser.

Quotes

Page 20, "Kat Godwin, Kippe's right-hand operative, was a listener like me, but that was about all we had in common. She was Blonde, slim and pouty, which would have given me three reasons to dislike her even if she'd been a sweet lass who spent her free time tending poorly hedgehogs."

Page 21, "She was good-looking, though her jaw was a bit too sharp. If she’d repeatedly fallen over while crossing soft ground, you could have sewn a crop of beans in the chin-holes she left behind."

Page 79, "I also noted a posse of teenage girls, whose shapeless floaty dresses, black eyeliner, outsize bangles and lank armpit-length hair marked them out as Sensitives, Sensitives do psychic work, but refuse to ever actually fight ghosts for pacifist principle. They generally as dippy as summer cold and as irritating as nettle rash. We don't normally get on."

Page 80, "With a clatter of bangles, the floatiest and wettest-looking of the Sensitives stepped forward. 'Mr Sanders! Miranda, Tricia and I refuse to work in any sector near that grave until it's been made safe! I wish to make that clear.'"

"'You miss'- he turned to the Sensitive - 'you've clearly had a terrible experience. Are you able to tell me about it?
 This was classic Lockwood. Friendly, considerate, empathetic. My personal impulse would have been to slap the girl soundly around the face and boot her moaning backside out into the night. Which is why he's the leader, and I'm not. Also why I have no female friends."-Sexist to presume all girls are like that, are you like that Lucy.

Page 111, "Problem is: you're stupid, Lucy."

Page 198, "There was a curiously feminine quality to his eyes and mouth that sat oddly with his hirsute frame."

Book Review: Kid Swap by Michael Lawrence

I hated this book. I hate people who condescending to kids this does both.

Jiggy is horrified to hear that his parents have signed him up for a reality TV show called Kid Swap. He is to move in with another family and everything he does will be filmed. Sadly, most of what he does while the camera is pointing his way is not the kind of thing he wants to share with millions of total strangers. 

And then, on top of it all, there's his bizarre skin problem...

Find out how Jiggy copes with TV fame and
flick the pages for a disgusting dinner!

My little brother had been moaning about his English Homework for months. At first, I thought he was exaggerating but then I read it. It was terrible. It has no plot, it has no character developed and lacks entertainment valve. Then there's the 23-year-old women flirting with 13-year-old. I have nothing positive to say about this book. It's lazy and has dated horribly since 2008 release date. Michael Lawerence doesn't appear to have written anything else since this series ended. Probably for the better but I doubt Lawerence put any effect into this book.

The main character is unlikable twat at the age of 13. His dad is out of work, his mum is pregnant. They want him to do this show for the money, he's mad about it because he thinks be made fools of so does everything possible to be made a fool of. No one comes as likable or real people. His family and friends all say that the kid he swaps with is better than him. There's also this weird thing of Earth-saniser which are the opposite of vegetarian in that they only meat as the Earth is dirty. This is mainly dumb as that means they survive only on protein and fat, missing out every other core food group. I know Lawerence did this for a laugh and therefore think of what realistically they be eating, which just be meat. Should their vegetarian and clothes be made from bones and plastic? The dad of the family is a doctor of some kind and their kids seem to be healthy taking only vitamins (which sources must be of the Earth. One way or another).  But the main character develops a terrible skin problem because humour.

Like I have hinted at this book contains things I would not want my 13 yr old brother to read without me telling him that is fucked up. He basically knew already but kids' knowledge and wisdom varies so much. My little brother does dumb shit all the time because he's 13 and media is such a dangerous tool at that age. First chapter has a sex change joke, that is if the show was called Gender Swap, he would have to have a surgery to be a girl. This is a dad joke written by 60 something man in 2008, so it just part of it that badly dates it as nothing else said about Trans people and this show was probably made at the time. There was one about swapping races. There's an unnecessary fat joke when Jiggy wears giant swimming trunks. Why don't just have him worn the dad's and have the same effect. Though it's a scene that realistically would never make tv because even then that's a naked minor. It would have to be blurred, they would still have gotten shit for having shown that. The main thing is that the Director's assistant (no title is actually given) flirts with 13-year-old boy to get him to comply with the show. This made worse with being in his head. He somehow thinks she 17 when of course she can't be. The thing ends when Jiggy finds out she 23 and is dating the director. Like this is all for laughs when she 23 and knows what she is doing. It is gross but mostly messed up that it's played as a joke when even then there was a problem of children being groomed and ending up in dangerous situation, we know this more now, but it was a known thing at the time. Sure, all she is doing is getting him to humiliated himself but storylines like this have to be dealt with better. Even in 2008, I don't think there's an excuse. It is another thing that dates this book, but I don't think it would get published with all the Scandals that have come out of the entrainment system. Though, even now male victims are not taken seriously as they should be, and people like to deny that women predators do exist. They like to deny the males as well. People suck. 

This book has an interesting idea, but it's waste within this series. The book I read from didn't make clear that it was part of a going series which would have made it a bad idea to do a school project on with only 20 minutes to pick a book to nine pages of work on. But hey maybe that just a bad thing to ask a class of 12/13-year-olds to do on a random book with no guidance. (I'm kinda annoyed at my little brother's English teacher, mainly because he told me the Amazon reviews are positively when there is one that from 2015 saying it the worst book they've ever read. 

There is now two out of 15. The better argument is that it has 85 ratings on Goodreads with an avenge rating of 3.86 stars (which was probably higher till I rated it)).  This is book is just a series of events that go no way despite having two places for a climax. As part of my brother's homework we read each chapter together and he was to summaries and rate the excitement of each chapter. All 23 of them. So, I have analysed this book more than it was ever meant to be. But nothing happens to carry on the plot in a lot of chapters. Another highlight is when Jiggy befriends a bunny obviously meant for Dinner for it to be finally killed and served several chapters later. My favourite has to be when an elf randomly shows up to offer the boy Jiggy swaps with the perfect life because he's good, smart and born rich. Like why would a magical creature would do that. If it meant to be commentary on the upper class having everything, then you missed the beat. The Elf might have been less jarring if had read the other books in the series with such titles as "The Curse of the Poltergoose", "The Meanest Genie" and "Neville the Devil". So first show of magical in the book, but not in the series. Still just random as fuck. The plot is just Random as Fuck.

Normally I don't swear in reviews of books where no swearing as appears but 13 yrs swear all the time, this is 10 old book that should probably be forgotten, and I feel like it as its a descriptive word.

Overall, I give this book 1/5 stars for Sexual Manipulation of all ages. I just hate this book, I think some of my anger is more directed at my little brother's English teacher because I had spent hours trying to work from this book to help my little brother learn something. Not that is English teacher seems to care if that was possible. He also mocks my brother's reading ability whose Autistic and Dyslexic, so I really dislike him, and this review is for you Brendan from someone whose Autistic and Dyslexic that knows what it like to put up with Ablelist teachers throughout high school that don't want to do their jobs. Frankly, I think it was ridiculous to let any kid to do for so long without feedback and I don't believe for one second you would have let him changes books without my mother's complaints. Though, I am angry with how stupid this book is. Kids ain't idiots. There are good books for this age group and reading level. Does this book have positive reviews, yes, do I think they thought about it for any length no. Also, Twilight, 50 shades of Grey all have positive reviews so that means nothing.